Beth O'Halloran
Drawing Everywhere
30h May 2017
Junior Infants
In her drawing workshop Beth and the children looked at how drawing and line can be seen anywhere, when one takes time to look... The primary goal was to enrich the children’s interaction with the natural world and to connect with unconventional ways to draw – a central tenet within contemporary visual arts practice.
Beth began the workshop by showing images of cobwebs, raindrops, fiery sparklers, snail trails, Vik Muniz's cloud artworks, seagull poo and rainbows. She introduced them to the idea that animals might draw with their bodies. She read the children the story 'The Snail and the Whale' by Julia Donaldson, where a humble little snail writes (or draws) an important message for his whale friend. The children and Beth then went into the garden to investigate for themselves what animal traces might be waiting to be discovered. Beth broke the children into three groups. The first group explored the garden with magnifying glasses looking for worm mounds, bird droppings, a snail or slug trail, bird footprints, feathers or whatever they might find... After this they took a cup of seeds and made their own trails or traces about the garden. The second group came together to draw on a large sheet of paper, fastening crayons to the underside of their shoes, and, mimicking the trails of animals, they walked across the page to create lines with their feet. The third group were given a cotton bud and an A4 sheet of white paper. They dipped the cotton bud into a mixture of lemon and water and made invisible drawings which were later revealed when dried and warmed (by a lamp). After a little while doing each activity each group swapped around so that every child did all activities.
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